The final weeks of Joseph Smith’s life were dominated by the escalating tension and ongoing conflict between the Prophet and his enemies.
A tipping point came on June 10, 1844, when the Nauvoo City Council ordered the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper that was critical of Joseph Smith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“For the last 16 days of his life, Joseph dealt with the fallout from this decision,” said Adam Petty, a historian and volume editor with the Joseph Smith Papers.
Joseph Smith sought to defend himself and the Saints, but he ultimately went to Carthage, Illinois, to answer for the destruction of the press. He was charged with treason for taking measures to protect Nauvoo.
On the morning of June 27, he wrote a letter to his wife, Emma Smith.
“I am very much resigned to my lot knowing I am justified and have done the best that could be done,” Joseph Smith wrote. “As for treason I know that I have not committed any.”
He assured his wife that she “need not have any fears” that harm would come to them.
Less than 10 hours later, a mob attacked Carthage Jail and killed Joseph and his brother Hyrum Smith.
How the tragic story unraveled is explained in the day-to-day documents compiled in the final volume of the “Joseph Smith Papers: Documents, Vol. 15, 16 May - 28 June 1844,” released on the 179th anniversary of the martyrdom.
Launched decades ago, the Joseph Smith Papers project has been a monumental effort by the Church History Department to collect, transcribe, contextualize and publish all the documents and writings of Joseph Smith.
Church leaders and historians gathered to celebrate the release of “Documents, Vol. 15,” the 27th and last print volume of the series, at the Church History Library on Tuesday, June 27.
Joseph Smith’s final six weeks
This last print volume of the Joseph Smith Papers covers the turbulent final six weeks of the Prophet’s life, illuminating the key events that led to his death.
“Joseph’s final six weeks were spent trying to stem the tide of internal and external opposition that had risen against him during the early months of 1844. Individuals who had previously been among his staunchest supporters became strident opponents,” said David Grua, another historian and volume editor. “Amidst this chaos, Joseph continued to care for his family, oversee a campaign for the presidency of the United States and lead the Church.”
While most volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers cover years and sometimes months of time, “Documents, Vol. 15” spans only six weeks because so many documents were created and events happened within a short period, said Brett D. Dowdle, a historian and volume editor with the Joseph Smith Papers.
“It’s a tumultuous and chaotic story with important things happening on nearly every day,” he said.
What’s in ‘Documents, Vol. 15’?
One of the most notable documents in the volume is Joseph Smith’s June 27 letter to his wife. The main part of the letter centers on business matters, then Joseph writes a postscript to Emma, expressing his love for her and their family.
“Give my love to the children and all my friends ... and all who inquire after me,” he wrote.
The letter was the second-to-last document produced by Joseph and the last item in his own handwriting.
“I think it’s telling because you see just where Joseph’s mind and heart were in these final hours. He was thinking about Emma and the children. He was thinking about his friends,” Dowdle said. “He had the peace of knowing that he had done the best that he could do with the mission that he had been given. It’s really a beautiful and emotional little postscript that reveals so much about Joseph Smith.”
The letter is one of 104 documents featured in the new volume, which includes other correspondence, accounts of his discourses, administrative minutes, municipal documents, military orders and legal papers. There is also one appendix item.
Here are some of the noteworthy documents found in “Documents, Vol. 15,” according to Petty, Dowdle, Grua and fellow historian/editor Chase Kirkham.
‘Fascinating pieces of history’
The Nauvoo City Council minutes for June 8 and 10, 1844, record the discussions which led to the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press.
Letters between Joseph Smith and Thomas Ford, the governor of Illinois, dated June 22 and 23, also shed light on why Joseph thought that the Nauvoo Expositor’s printing press should be destroyed, Petty said.
Dowdle described the letters to and from Ford as “fascinating pieces of history.”
“Throughout his life, Joseph was always willing to trust people, including people who had let him down,” Dowdle said. “He was always willing to give them another chance, and you see that with Ford.”
Formal announcement of the martyrdom
Historians and editors felt the formal announcement of the martyrdom, which was written for the 1844 Doctrine and Covenants, and is now Doctrine and Covenants 135, should be included in the appendix of “Documents, Vol. 15.”
“Although it was clearly not a Joseph Smith document, we felt like it would be a nice addition to the volume as an appendix item that would allow us to complete the story and tell about Joseph’s death,” Dowdle said.
The martyrdom document was written sometime between mid-July and mid-August 1844. It has traditionally been attributed to John Taylor, but research indicates he was recovering from injuries sustained at Carthage Jail when it was written. Taylor may have contributed but it is unlikely that he was the principal author.
What historians have found is the martyrdom announcement quoted or paraphrased many other items from the Times and Seasons editorials, poems and from Willard Richards’ journal. It seems to have also drawn from a poem written by Eliza R. Snow, which was published in the July 1, 1844, edition of the Times and Seasons, Dowdle said.
‘Truth is made manifest’
One of Kirkham’s favorite documents in the volume is a letter that Joseph Smith wrote to scholar Israel Daniel Rupp, author of a recently published book about American religious denominations.
One chapter of the book included an article about the Latter-day Saints that Joseph had submitted. The book’s publishers mailed Joseph a copy of the book, and, in response, Joseph wrote to Rupp on June 5, 1844, thanking him for the publication.
The letter also contains a famous declaration of Joseph’s: “by p[r]oving contrarreties, truth is made manifest.”
“Stated otherwise, truth can be arrived at by testing or examining ideas that appear contrary,” Kirkham said. “The statement sheds light on Joseph’s attitude towards learning, intentionally engaging with different ideas to discover new truths.”
Joseph’s final discourse
The volume contains Joseph Smith’s final religious discourse to the Saints, which he delivered on Sunday, June 16, 1844.
Joseph that morning preached during a rainstorm to defend his beliefs about God from recent criticism.
“For students of Joseph Smith’s religious teachings, it is a fascinating discourse and, in some ways, more interesting than the famous King Follett sermon delivered during the April 1844 conference,” Kirkham said.
Grua said Joseph’s final sermon is inspiring in other ways.
“[It] shows that even in the midst of substantial adversity, he was anxious to teach the Church about the nature of the divine and the plan of salvation,” Grua said. “It really is a bright spot in an otherwise inexorable narrative leading to the martyrdom.”
‘Still moving forward’
Another inspiring thought Latter-day Saints can take from this sad chapter of Church history is that while Joseph and Hyrum Smith died, the Church did not.
“In the middle of all this chaos, the kingdom was still going forward. ... There was preaching and missionary work going on,” Dowdle said. “I think there’s something significant in that. Joseph’s life was coming to a close, but the work of the kingdom that he had helped to set up was still moving forward. That gives me hope for the times when it can feel like life is simply one problem after another and the hits keep coming — somewhere God’s work is still moving forward.”
Under the direction of Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles, the Saints went on to finish the Nauvoo Temple before moving west.
“It is important to recognize that Joseph’s measures were carried out,” Petty said. “The temple was built. The Saints did receive their endowments. The Saints did leave Nauvoo and find refuge in the west. This is a story of faith and sacrifice, a story of gathering and building temples, a story of following the prophet. What could be more uplifting than that?”
Learn more about the Joseph Smith Papers at josephsmithpapers.org.
